The Hive of the Changelings was huge and was located deep within the Everfree Forest, where even a griffin was very unlikely to be. Had a pony or griffin showed up there, the sentries would have sounded the alarm, for nopony, nobody for that matter, could be allowed to give warning of a changeling hive to the outside world. Inside, the Queen walked amongst her people feeding gently off the love of the entire hive. Contrary to belief, love was not the only food of the changelings; if it were; changeling hives would find it difficult to survive. Love was their favourite food and was needed to stay healthy; much like ponies needed apples to stave off scurvy, yet would only start suffering from scurvy if they went for months or years without apples. But where love could not be found, they could feast on fruit, fungus, bread, meat, even fear.
The Queen was not a tyrant; anypony who had never encountered a changeling might have assumed that the large holes in their legs and wings were the result of the most horrible torture. Not the case, it just lessened the energy needed to shift shape. Nor was she an elitist like some monarchs were. An elitist queen who shut herself away from her people would risk losing their love and would have to go outside the hive to look for it, risking a coup’ d’état. She stepped to her podium and the changeling chatter died down.
“Attention, everyling. The building of this hive has been a great success. As is customary at the finishing of a hive, I will spell out the few rules of the Changelings, passed down from generation to generation, known as the Seven Pillars of Wisdom. Do not harm or steal from a fellow Changeling; when you go out on a mission, you go in threes. One to replace a target, and two to carry the target back to the Hive and put him or her in a cocoon so the Hive may feed. Grubs are fed first; they are the future of our people. Do not foul the food supplies or the water of the Hive, everyling depends on it. If you fight with a fellow Changeling you do it in the Thunderdome, and to the death. If a fellow Changeling is in danger, aid him or her. Lastly, a traitor is the worst thing possible, be it to a fellow Changeling or to the Hive itself. When undercover, never betray yourself or another.”
“Now that the formalities are out of the way, you are free to go out as scouts and feed if you can. Everybody you bring back in a cocoon will strengthen our Hive and our entire people. Go now, and may the odds be forever in your favour.”
*** Three young changeling friends, who nicknamed themselves the "Love Squadron" flew due Westward as high as they could safely fly without too much danger from cold weather or lack of air. Only when they got close to their target did they change into what for now were random pegasus ponies with random cutie marks. There they began searching for the right kind of pony. Foals were good targets, easy to capture and there was a lot of love to be found, but few changelings had the patience to act foalish for years until they could *grow up* Coupledoms were another good target, but the problem there was that they had to have at least a rough idea of how to act to fool the other half of the coupledom. The best possible target was that of a rich young colt or filly who was old enough not to be a foal, but not quite fully grown either. The lucky changeling in this position had a bright future ahead of him or her.
Brightwing smiled when she saw the magenta pony with the glittering tiara on its head and the tiara cutie mark upon its flank. That one must be mine; I can so sense the love her father has for her. To be her would be a dream come true. Amongst their own kind, changelings had limited telepathy. Providing a changeling wanted it to, another changeling could read it’s thoughts whilst close by. Her friend Beauty replied, You saw her first so she is yours-if we can catch her alone. They followed a while, and got their change when she went to the mare’s toilets. As she came out, one of them fanged her before she could react, the poison putting her into a deep sleep, and the other two spun a cocoon rapidly over her, before flying her up into the sky leaving only her tiara behind. A tiara that Brightwing put on, before changing shape within seconds and going out to where Filthy Rich waited for her. *** As soon as Brightwing saw Filthy Rich, she could feel the love radiating off him and got as close to him as she could without seeming strange, wondering of course why they were there. They stopped at a jewelery shop. "I think Emerald Bar would love this, it'll look perfect on her for her Cute-ceañera," Filthy said, pointing at an elegant strand of pearls with a magnetic clasp. "Plus it's like Silver Spoon's and you know how much she likes Silver Spoon." After they got back to the mansion, Brightwing turned to her *father* and said "I had the best day with you" before planting a light kiss on his cheek. Contrary to what some ponies thought about them, a Changeling in role was often far sweeter then the average pony they replaced. The sweeter they were after all, the more love they gained in return. Over the next few hours Brightwing gorged herself on the love that was meant for Diamond Tiara. That night she set off on a secret flight, not wanting her hidden wing muscles to wither away from not being used. She looked back in the direction of the hive, where the real Diamond by now would be hung up in a feeding chamber, and wondered how her fellow changelings were doing. The next day she decided she would go out and make some brand new friends.
As soon as Brightwing returned from her quiet night flight, she found the diary of Diamond Tiara along with a family photo album and started to study, to find out as much as possible about Diamond Tiara's friends and family as she possibly could. She remembered when she was back at school in the Hive...
Mr Opaque turned around and turned for a few seconds into a horrible thing with two legs and two hands, before regaining his normal changeling shape. Oh stallion, is he pissed! Brightwing thought. He only changes into that horrible shape when he's really angry. He glared at the class. "Yes, I was once a pupil too forty years ago, and I admit that I was not a perfect one, so I know how it is-but the next person I catch talking out of turn or throwing a paper plane in my class is going to get the cane across their backside. What I have to teach you will serve you well and give you a source of love for the rest of your lives. When you replace somebody, you need to at once find out as much about them as you can. Diaries for example are a prime source. The more you find out, the more you lessen the chance of being uncovered as a changeling, which would be a disaster for you. I put this into practise. My pony wife thinks that I spend two months a year working in the griffin kingdom whilst in fact I'm spending it teaching you lot. The other ten months of the year I spend teaching colts and fillies."
She finished looking at Diamond's diary and thought Some things are going to change.Dramatically. I don't want to be a spoilt snooty filly. I want to have as many friends as possible. before settling down in Diamond's luxurious bed. It was a bit different from the changeling hammock of changeling silk that she was used to, but she soon got used to it. The next day a servant woke her up and she went to school, careful to kiss her parents goodbye first and be kissed in return. She soon came across Silver Spoon being nasty as normal to the Cutie Mark Crusaders. "Blank flanks, you'll be blank flanks forever, or maybe you'll end up getting cutie marks for being annoying as that's all you'll ever be good at," Silver Spoon snapped.
"Silver, that's not very nice," Brightwing replied. "Remember the motto of our country, chosen by the Goddesses themselves... Friendship is Magic. Remember what Ponyism says...welcome new ponies to the Herd."
Silver stared at her as if she now had griffin claws instead of hooves. "Diamond, what's got into you? You're my best friend...are you turning into some sort of religious freak? You're scaring me now."
"Silver, I'm not a religious crazy and I value your friendship, I really do, but I want to have as many friends as possibly, even blank flanks, who are full of potential," she said, and turned to Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle who were as shocked as Silver Spoon at her being nice to them. Silver Spoon stuck her nose in the air and trotted away, horrified at what Diamond had said. During school Brightwing learned all the names of those in her class when the register was read out, and after school she went out to her new friends. "Would you like to come home and play chess with me? You might be able to become Cutie Mark chess players. Or if that idea bores you, why not join me in the family swimming pool?"
Later that evening, as the moon rose and they headed back home Sweetie Belle said to her friends "Don't you think something is wrong with Diamond Tiara?"
They shook their heads. "I see nothing wrong if she's stopped being such a brat," said Scootaloo. "With her helping us we'll soon get our cutie marks."
That evening Sweetie Belle looked at a recent birthday present that Rarity had given to her about the monsters of Equestria, and the article on Changelings caught her eye.
Changelings
The Changelings, in their original state look like a cross between a pony and an insect, with black pony-like bodies and green insectoid wings. Although their legs and wings appear to have holes in them, these holes are part of them and do them no harm, instead making it easier for them to change into almost any shape. Changelings are born as grubs and stay that way for a year, and in this state can only feed on love, without which they starve to death.
Adult changelings infiltrate areas, kidnap ponies, griffins and others and take their place, feeding on the love that relatives and romantic partners have for them. Whilst adult changelings can feed on other things then love, they need love to remain healthy in the long term. They are often sweeter then the ponies they replace as they want a source of love that they can feed upon for the rest of their lives.
The victims meanwhile have cocoons woven around them and are taken back to the hive where their love feeds the grubs. Changeling hives can be the size of Equestrian towns, and are well guarded. Non Changelings who get too close are seen by the sentries and tend to end up hanging in a cocoon within a feeding chamber, as Changelings see other races in their territory as a source of free love. To uncover a Changeling, shine a light spell through a cut diamond and the true shape of the changeling will be reflected in the diamond.
"So that's what happened to Diamond Tiara," Sweetie Belle said quietly to herself. "She's an imposter. Legally, I should let everypony know what has happened before other ponies end up getting replaced, but Diamond is most likely beyond rescue, and besides, I like the new Diamond much better then the snooty bratty filly that she was, who never said anything nice to us. I will tell my fellow Crusaders tomorrow and see what if anything they want to do about it."
That evening Sweetie Belle took advantage of the secret fact that after a lot of trouble and error, she had found out the combination of Rarity's jewel safe where she also hid the cookies to try and them from being munched up within days. She helped herself to a single diamond; it would be a while before it was missed. In another world where jewels were much less common such a diamond would have the pride of place in a royal crown; here, whilst still worth plenty of Equestrian bits, it was a mere dress decoration. The next morning Sweetie headed to school with much less worry then before, as she only had Silver Spoon to worry about. If indeed Diamond Tiara was a Changeling, then she much preferred the friendly Changeling to the real pony. The real Diamond had teased and bullied her and her friends at every opportunity, whilst her replacement was sweet and kind to everypony. And if the book on Changelings was true, then Diamond was not dead or suffering in a Changeling pod. In her drugged mind she would be back with her family, whilst her love oozed out from the pod to feed the grubs that would become the next generation of Changelings.
Meanwhile Brightwing had spent several hours with Silver Spoon and had noticed several things about her. The first was that she was just as loved by her parents as the real Diamond had been. The second was the sheer luxury that she lived in. Whilst Changelings would replace poor ponies if there was a strong enough love source to feed on, they chose rich ones if possible. Not only would their lives be much better in every way, but there was normally a much richer source of love to feed on. Poor ponies were more likely to divorce which could be a disaster for a Changeling, lowering its love intake by at least half. The last thing she noticed was how deeply unpleasant Silver Spoon was with anypony who she considered to be beneath her. Clearly the sooner one of her real friends could fang and replace Silver Spoon, the better it would be for everypony. She would meet her friend Warmlove the next evening and then the Love Squadron would claim a new victim and the Hive would be served with the rich love of Silver Spoon. After kissing her new parents goodbye and being kissed in return (Changelings when impersonating a pony were affectionate) she went to school and her new friends, the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
Unknown to her, the Crusaders had been talking about her for a while.
"Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, I think I know why Diamond Tiara is being so sweet to us, she's been replaced by a Changeling. And more then that, I think that I can prove it. But if she is a Changeling, I think we should keep it to ourselves."
"Are you crazy?" Scootaloo replied, flapping her little stubby wings fearfully. "I've heard of those things and they often attack in packs. They're a danger to everypony, and I do not want to end up hanging helplessly in a Changeling pod so that a replacement me can feed off the love of my parents. If Diamond has been kiddnapped, then I'm happy about it, but we have to think of the greater needs of ponykind, Everypony could be in danger if this is just the start of a major Changeling attack. We have to tell Rainbow Dash, the police, or both."
"But what if we tell them and Diamond somehow gets rescued? Do you want her to start calling us blank flanks and doing her best to ruin our schooldays again?" Apple Bloom replied. As the number one target of Diamond Tiara, she was in no hurry to be teased again by her. Sweetie Belle knew that as by now Diamond was hanging in a Changeling Hive by now, there was next to no chance of her being rescued but she chose to keep that infomation to herself as it would only help Scootaloo. "And what about Diamond's parents? Would you rather they were in mourning for a lost daughter or content with the one she has now? Who is almost certainly better behaved and sweeter then the real Diamond ever was. Also, what if you're wrong about Diamond? What if she has just decided or been told by her parents in private to stop treating us like the dirt on her hooves? If you falsely accuse her of being a Changeling, then at the very least her kindness towards us will end, and she might well want to get revenge on us."
"For Celestia's sake, do you two only care about yourselves? Do you not care if half of Ponyville's ponies vanish into a Changeling Hive as long as you are free from Diamond's teasing? Today it's Diamond, tomorrow it could be Rarity or Applejack or one of you who gets quietly replaced by a Changeling. They might even decide to target the Royal Sisters.We have to use that spell of yours to uncover Diamond's true nature in front of Cherrilee and our whole class," Scootaloo replied. "Unless there are a lot more Changelings around then we think, there is no way that a whole class can be replaced all at once. The police can be told, the news can be made public,the Royal Sisters can do whatever they need to do to protect the Herd. We have to uncover Diamond...or prove her innocence and give everybody peace of mind. And if you won't, then I will. The safety of the Herd matters a lot more then our own self-interest. If you have not cast that spell by sunset, I am going to the police, even if that costs me your friendship and my membership in the Cutie Mark Crusaders. And even if I end up with an informer's cutie mark as a result.I'm not going to make a deal to keep things secret here."
There were a small number of cutie marks that were either illegal or downright disliked, and an informer's cutie mark, which was a pony head talking into an ear, was one of the latter, as it showed that the pony's special talent was telling on other ponies and getting them into trouble. Murders in Equestria were exceedingly rare,at least outside the big cities, but there had been at least one case in recent times of such a pony being found dead with his throat cut after he betrayed the wrong pony's secrets.